Sophie Pascoe Biography – Sophie Pascoe Wiki
Sophie Pascoe born Sophie Frances Pascoe is a New Zealand para-swimmer. She has represented New Zealand at four Summer Paralympic Games since 2008, winning a total of nine gold medals and seven silver medals, making her New Zealand’s most successful Paralympian. She has also represented New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games.
On 23 September 1995, she was accidentally run over by her father on the family ride-on lawnmower. As a result of the accident, her left leg was amputated below the knee, while the rear of her right leg was left with severe scarring. She studied at Halswell Primary School and Lincoln High School in the nearby Christchurch satellite town of Lincoln.
At age 7, she started swimming. She is coached by Roly Crichton and trains at the QEII swim club, which has been based at Jellie Park in Burnside since the facilities at Queen Elizabeth II Park were damaged in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Pascoe is classified as S10 for freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly, SB9 for breaststroke, and SM10 for individual medley.
At the 2008 Summer Paralympics, she won a gold and a silver medal for the 100 m breaststroke and 100 m butterfly respectively, and later a gold for the women’s 200 m individual medley. She then shared a gold medal for the 100 m backstrokes when she drew with South African Shireen Sapiro. At 15 years of age, she was New Zealand’s youngest athlete at the Paralympics, and the youngest ever New Zealander to win a medal.
Following the 2008 Paralympics, she was voted New Zealand’s favorite Paralympian in a nationwide voting competition run by Mitsubishi Motors. For this, she won a Mitsubishi VRX Outlander. Pascoe was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2009 New Year’s Honours, for her services to swimming.[15] In February 2012, Pascoe became the inaugural winner of the Disabled Sportsperson of the Year award at the 2011 Halberg Awards.
At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, Pascoe competed in six events – the four in which she won medals at the 2008 Paralympics, plus the 50m freestyle (S10) and 100m freestyle (SM10) events. She successfully defended her 200 m individual medley (SM10) gold medal, breaking her world record by four seconds with a time of 2:25.65. Dame Sophie also won gold medals in the 100 m butterfly (S10), where she bettered her silver at Beijing and in the process set a new world record with a time of 1:04.43,[18] and in the 100 m freestyle (S10), setting a new Paralympic record with a time of 1:00.89. She won silver medals in the 50 m freestyle (S10),100 m backstrokes (S10), and 100 m breaststroke (SB9).
In March 2013, Pascoe broke her world record for the 50m butterfly at the New Zealand Swimming Championships in Auckland, setting a time of 29.21 seconds.
At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, she competed in five events, dropping the 100 m breaststroke SB9. She won gold medals in the 100 m backstrokes, 100 m butterfly, and 200 m individual medley, the latter in world record time. She also won silver medals in the 50 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle, both behind Canada’s Aurélie Rivard. Her 50 m freestyle medal holds the distinction as the 200th medal won by New Zealand at the Paralympic Games (both summer and winter editions). Her success took her gold medal count to nine and her total medal count to 15, overtaking Eve Rimmer’s eight gold medals and 14 total medals to become New Zealand’s most successful Paralympian.
Sophie Pascoe Age
She was born on January 8, 1993, in Christchurch, New Zealand. Sophie grew up on a lifestyle block near Halswell on the south-western outskirts of the city.
Sophie Pascoe Husband
She is married to her husband, civil engineer Rob Samson. Rob has always been by her side offering support when necessary. The two got married in October 2023 after being together for several years.
Sophie Pascoe Children
The professional swimmer announced the birth of her first child in April 2024. Pascoe said in a statement issued by Swimming NZ that she wants to spend time with family in New Zealand, and as a consequence won’t compete at the Games later this year.
However, she has not retired from the sport, stating she may return to competitive racing in 2025.
Sophie Pascoe Family
She is the daughter of Garry Pascoe and Jo Pascoe. She also has one older sister, Rebecca Pascoe.
Sophie Pascoe Height
She stands at a listed height of 5 feet 6 inches (170 meters) tall.
Sophie Pascoe Instagram
She is active on her Instagram account @sophpascoe1.
